IMDb Refuses to Delete or Change Actors’ Ages, Despite Talks with SAG and AFTRA
Earlier last month, an anonymous actress filed a million dollar lawsuit against the IMDb (“Internet Movie Database”) website claiming that the database violated her constitutional right to privacy by accessing and providing personal information, specifically her age. It may come as no surprise that the entertainment industry is taking the recent lawsuit very seriously and has been in talks with IMDb regarding its practice of publishing sensitive information without the actor or actress’ permission. For some time now, IMDb has been...
read moreCompulsory Licenses in the Music Industry
Compulsory copyright license is the exception to copyright law. It is the government’s attempt to correct a market failure or a monopoly. A compulsory license allows a person to exercise one or more of the copyright’s exclusive rights without having to obtain the copyright holder’s permission. All the individual has to do is pay a licensing fee. This is why it is called a “compulsory license.” You may be wondering why someone may want a compulsory license or why someone would need to use a copyrighted work. Well,...
read moreThe Importance of Conducting a Thorough Trademark Search
The problem with trademarks is the fact that they are literally the backbone of your company. Without it, you are just another business on the side of the road, unrecognizable and less likely to gain any type of following. Just as the trademarks can bring additional business to your company based on name recognition, consistent excellent quality of services and goods, and longstanding goodwill, a trademark you copied (whether deliberately or inadvertently) from a third party, can bring much turmoil, disruption, and loss of future income to...
read moreSiriusXM is Looking to License Music Directly from Labels
There has been chatter in the entertainment industry with regard to SiriusXM’s recent attempt to directly license music from record labels. SiriusXM, a satellite radio, currently has a statutory license to play music and pays digital public performance royalties to a nonprofit organization called SoundExchange, which is a nonprofit organization designated by Congress pursuant to the 1995 Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act, to collect license fees and distribute royalties to copyright owners and performers. The percentage...
read moreLas Vegas Company Ordered to Pay $120,000 in Attorney’s Fees for Filing “Frivolous” Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
On Wednesday, October 26, 2011, Las Vegas company named Righthaven LLC was ordered by a federal court judge to pay $119,488 in attorneys fees and costs. This past summer, federal judge Roger Hunt dismissed Righthaven’s lawsuit against former federal prosecutor Thomas DiBiase on the basis that Righthaven did not have standing to file its lawsuit. The basis of Righthaven’s lawsuit was essentially that DiBiase, who maintained a nonprofit website on murder cases, including suspected murder cases where no body has been found but...
read moreIndividual Publicity Rights
Today, more and more individuals are becoming connected through the internet. People are given instant updates on celebrities, public figures, and even random people they may or may not know. The computer savvy are able to sell goods or services through websites online, and using celebrities and public figures to sell goods and services is becoming even more popular and more profitable! An individual’s right to publicity is defined by the state in which the celebrity lives and is different from state to state. In California, an...
read moreThe Benefits of Federal Trademark Registration
When a party registers his or her trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, presumptions come into play and infringement lawsuits become a lot more feasible from a financial standpoint. An infringement lawsuit is the only way to enforce trademark ownership and federal registration makes it much easier to win a federal lawsuit against later infringers. Federal registration make it easier to bring the lawsuit because you do not have to prove that you are the mark’s owner and that later user deliberately copied the mark,...
read moreDetermining Trademark Ownership
Trademark ownership is determined by who uses the mark first in a commercial setting. By simply using a name, logo, or other symbol to identify goods or services in the marketplace, a trademark has been created and trademark ownership has been established. There is no real difference between a trademark and a service mark. A trademark refers to any name, logo, symbol or other device used to distinguish a product from competing products in the marketplace and to identify the product’s source. However, a service mark is any name, logo,...
read moreEuropean Court Issues a Judgment that May Have Sweeping Impact on Celebrity Lawsuits Against Media, Bloggers, and Websites
With the ever increasing reach of the internet and the speed at which website content can reach thousands, if not millions, of viewers throughout the world in a matter of minutes or hours, it is not surprising that this past Tuesday October 25, 2011 the European Court of Justice made a sweeping ruling that may greatly affect a celebrity’s publicity or privacy rights. The European Court found that content placed online “can be consulted by an indefinite number of Internet users worldwide” and thus causes an impact within the European...
read moreMajor Players in the Entertainment Industry Show Support for New House Bill on Online Piracy
A House Bill entitled “The Stop Online Piracy Act” recently introduced by several congress members has found overwhelming support by major players in the entertainment industry. The new STOP Online Piracy Act would provide the federal government with broad and sweeping powers to essentially eliminate websites that host illegal content. The federal government will have the power to shut down these websites by preventing internet search engines from even serving the links to the illegal websites, payment companies from processing payments...
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